U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina was questioned by the Orange County Register editorial board on issues ranging from health care to campaiging to global warming. Fiorina has a three-way primary race for the Republican nomination to face Sen. Barbara Boxer this fall.

Republican Carly Fiorina was questioned by the Orange County Register's editorial board on Wednesday. The former Hewlett-Packard CEO wants to replace Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer this fall but first must win a three-way GOP primary.

U.S. Senate Republican hopeful Carly Fiorina visited the Orange County Register's Santa Ana headquarters Wednesday where she met with the editorial board. She fielded questions on health care, global warming, jobs and immigration.

In this December, 2009 photo Sen. Barbara Boxer is talking at a Capitol Hil news conference. A new poll shows that the three-term incumbent Democrat faces a tough race regardless of which of the three Republicans running in the June 8 primary wins.

Irvine Assemblyman Chuck DeVore is one of the Republicans battling in the June 8 primary for the chance to face Sen. Barbara Boxer this fall. In this file photo DeVore is campaigning before a crowd of Tea Partiers.

Update: Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has caught up to former Rep. Tom Campbell in the Republican primary race for Sen. Barbara Boxer’s seat, according to the results of a new Public Policy Institute of California poll.

Both Republican challengers would be neck and neck with the third-term incumbent Democrat if the election were held today.

“Right now it’s a difficult year for all incumbents,” Baldassare said. Given the low approval ratings Congress has, “anyone associated with the malaise in Congress is vulnerable.”

For the primary, PPIC called 410 likely voters between March 9-16 with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

In a meeting Wednesday with the Orange County Register’s editorial board, Fiorina predicted she would close the gap with Campbell, who experts say has been leading in early polls because of his name identification.

Campbell spokesman James Fisfis said this poll differs from other surveys and that this is quickly becoming the most polled race of the season.

“We’ve always assumed this would be a competitive primary,” Fisfis said, adding that “none of the campaigns are doing advertising yet. All of these polling numbers will be thrown in the air.”

Neither campaign will say when they plan to go on the air with paid advertising. The latest fundraising totals for the campaigns are due to be made public in three weeks. How much money the candidates have in their treasuries will be an indication of how heavy advertising will be in the weeks leading up to June 8.

DeVore said if the polls included the fact that he is not only an assemblyman but a military reservist his support would be more. “I think we’ll do well,” as the race continues, he said.

In her Register meeting, Fiorina answered questions on issues ranging from health reform to global warming to immigration.

She promised that if she replaces Boxer next year, she will do all she can to repeal the Democrats’ health reform law and let the free market be more in charge.

“What we’ve done with this bill,” Fiorina said, “We have in essence removed all of the incentives for individuals to either take care of themselves or make good health care choices or get health insurance when they are healthy.”

Fiorina said she doesn’t trust the Congressional Budget Office analysis that says the health bill will lower the deficit by $143 billion over 10 years.

“It is self-evident to me that the cost of health care and the cost of health insurance will rise with this plan,” Fiorina said. She said part of the reason people with pre-existing conditions are uninsured is because they don’t know about government programs they could enroll in.

“As a compassionate person I can imagine the heartbreak, the anxiety of a mother who has a young child with a pre-existing condition who is struggle to find health care and health insurance for them,” Fiorina said. But she believes those problems can be dealt with “far more cheaply and more effectively.”

Boxer, who attended the signing ceremony at the White House Tuesday for the health care bill, said on the Senate floor Tuesday evening that she would fight against any Republican effort to repeal it.

“I look forward to that battle because I can tell you the letters to my office are saying: Please, please protect us. We feel vulnerable.”

Asked whether she would support Sen. Dianne Feinstein’sbill to repeal the anti-trust exemptions for insurance companies to promote more competitive rates, Fiorina said she would but that such a move alone would not promote the competition that’s needed.

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO was asked about a wide range of issues as well as campaign strategy at the hour-long session. Here’s a sampling of her responses.

Global warming

“I’m skeptical about the science,” Fiorina said.

She supports the production of all types of energy, including more nuclear, more offshore drilling off California, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska, and more natural gas exploration.

“Whether or not global warming is real or not we ought to decide as a matter of national priority that we are going to invest in all sources of energy,” she said.

Boxer opposes expansion of offshore drilling and in ANWR and is the author of the global warming legislation voted on by the Environment and Public Works committee which Boxer chairs.

Israel

“The current flap between the Obama administration and Israel is not helpful,” she said. “Israel is a friend and a strategic and important ally.”

Fiorina said all settlement activity shouldn’t be treated alike. Our objections to that “throws into the negotiation pot something the Israelis thought was out of the negotiation pot and I don’t think that was helpful either.”

Boxer and Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week asking her to make sure that the recent tension over settlements and Jerusalem do not “derail Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations or harm U.S.-Israel relations.”

Jobs

“The way we’re going to fight for jobs is by lowering taxes and cutting through the thicket of regulations that tie their hands,” Fiorina said. She talked about the need to reclaim a manufacturing base, jobs that have gone to China and other countries.

Boxer voted for Obama’s stimulus bill and all the other jobs legislation that has come before the Senate this year.

Immigration

“I don’t believe that a big comprehensive package works,” Fiorina said. She would not say how she would handle the problem of the 12 million undocumented immigrants living here now.

“Start with the stuff you can do and know what has to be done,” she said. “The federal government hasn’t been willing or able to do the most fundamental thing which is secure the border.” Fiorina said that and creating a temporary worker program that works should be done first.

“Until we get those things done I don’t think you’re ever going to get agreement with the American people about what to do with the 12 million illegals,” she said.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.